Rusthoven v. Commercial Standard Insurance Company

Andrew Rusthoven, Jr. (plaintiff) drove trucks for R.E.T.E.N.O. Carriers. Rusthoven was seriously injured when his tractor trailer went off the road and overturned in a ditch. Rusthoven alleged an oncoming car had veered across the centerline and forced him off the road, but the car was never identified. The tractor trailer was rented by R.E.T.E.N.O., which leased all 67 of its vehicles. The vehicles were all covered by a policy issued by Commercial Standard Insurance Company (Commercial) (defendant). R.E.T.E.N.O. paid according to its gross receipts, and there was no accounting of the exact number of vehicles covered at any given time. The policy stated that regardless of the number of covered vehicles involved in an accident, the most Commercial would pay was based on the uninsured-motorist insurance limit as shown in the declarations sheet. The declarations sheet, a summary of the main terms of the policy, such as coverage limits, deductibles, and effective dates, did not list the uninsured-motorist limit as a dollar figure but instead referenced endorsement CA 21 07, which listed a bodily injury coverage limit of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. And regardless of the number of covered vehicles involved in the accident, the most Commercial would pay was still the limit included in the endorsement. An endorsement altered the scope of the coverage laid out in the policy. A second endorsement, CA 21 24, stated that regardless of the number of vehicles involved in the accident, the most Commercial would pay for one accident was the limit of the uninsured-motorists insurance listed in the declarations. But if there was more than one covered vehicle, “our limit of liability for any one accident is the sum of the limits applicable to each covered auto.” Commercial paid Rusthoven $25,000 for the accident. Rusthoven sued in district court, arguing the limit was higher. The court held that the policy was limited to $25,000. Rusthoven appealed. The appellate court affirmed, concluding that the $25,000 limit was the only reasonable interpretation of the uninsured-motorist limit. Rusthoven appealed again.